Chili peppers, such as jalepeño, cayenne, and habanero peppers, contain
capsaicin, which is the main ingredient in pepper spray. Capsaicin can add
flavor and spiciness to food, but can also cause an extreme burning sensation
which can last for minutes or even hours. Capsaicin is a natural oil found in all
chilies, what we have come to call peppers. If your mouth is burning up,
here's how to cool off. These tips will likely work on your skin, too!

Steps

1

Drink milk. There's a protein found in milk called casein that acts like a
detergent against capsaicin.[1] It'll actually pull the capsaicin compounds
away from the nerve receptor binding sites in your mouth. Drink at least a
half cup, making sure you rinse your mouth well first.[2] You can spit it out,
but you won't get as much relief in your throat that way.

The colder the milk is, the more effective it tends to be against the burning
sensation.

If you have gotten the oil on your hands, soaking your hands in bowl of milk
with ice cubes in it will help relieve the pain. Make sure to keep the milk
cold, and replace the milk with fresh milk if the pain-relieving effects
lessen.

If you don't have any milk, you may be able to coat the inside of your
mouth to soothe it with cottage cheese, cold plain yogurt, sour cream or
ice cream which should also contain the milk protein called casein.

2

Drink sugar water. Mix a tablespoon or more of sugar with a cup water
and use it to rinse out your mouth. Cold sugar solution (10%) at 20°C/68°F
is about as effective as whole milk at 5°C/41°F[3] but the relief only lasts
while the mixture is still in your mouth[4] so you'll need to keep rinsing and
spitting until the pain subsides.

3

Drink alcohol. Capsaicin is soluble in alcohol, so drinking a beer or a shot
can help wash it away. It's not nearly as effective, however, as milk.[1]
Alcohol is a solvent to capsaicin, not a neutralizer, so it will break it loose,
but it may just spread it around.

4

Rinse your mouth with oil. Capsaicin is also soluble in vegetable oils[1] so
swishing some around in your mouth might help. Keep in mind that oil has
been found to be only slightly more effective than water in relieving pepper
burns, so use it only if nothing else is available.[2]

Unverified Folk Remedies

Try any of the following folk remedies, but keep in mind that these methods
have not been verified in a reliable third party source.

Eat some cucumber. This is, in fact, a common way to deal with too much heat in the food in Indonesia and Thailand.

Touch the affected area with a soft corn tortilla (lips, mouth, etc.)

Curries and other hot dishes are almost always accompanied by copious amounts of rice in India, because starchy foods combat the burning sensation. Potato will work as well, as will bread. Chew well, so that the tongue is "washed" by the rice, potato or bread.

Use salt. Salting the food or eating salty chips can soothe the burn.

Try honey. Sopapillas with honey are served with spicy foods in some restaurants.

Pepto Bismol® may stop the burn.

Eat more of the same pepper and it will feel better

Try eating a raw carrot. There's no trick to swishing it around. Just take a bite and the burn will significantly diminish.

White toothpaste can significantly reduce the burning from habanero oils on the skin. It will likely work in the mouth and/or with other peppers.

Coconut milk works very well to cut the burn and modulate the heat level of a spicy recipe.

Ice Cream for the same reasons as cold milk, and it has sugar.

Eat a banana - the texture and sugar content may help soothe the burn.

Eat some chocolate. The capsaicin in peppers is more soluble in fat than aqueous based solutions (ie beer, water, even low-fat milk). The high fat content of most chocolate bars will help to remove some of the capsaicin from your mouth. Milk chocolate generally has a higher fat content and a higher casein content than dark chocolate and therefore should give better relief.

Eat an apple.

Eating a lemon wedge, juiced or whole (with all juice), and the acid will help breakdown the oily stuff.

Tips

The burning sensation should fade away on its own over time.

Drinking plain water may not alleviate much of the pain and can even tend to just spread the heat throughout your mouth by carrying the pepper everywhere.

If you include ingredients that have lots of natural sugars (grated carrots, sautéed onions, etc.) in a dish with hot peppers, the sugars tend to "bank" the hotness--it's still there, but it's not the first thing you taste and doesn't overwhelm the rest of the flavors.

Avoid getting peppers in your nose, eyes, or any other openings, which is a very painful experience. Pepper spray is made from chili peppers, so if you have happened to have been sprayed in the past, you know what this feels like.

Avoid getting peppers on open cuts.

Be careful handling eye contacts after handling spicy peppers. Capsaicin is difficult to fully remove and does not completely wash away with soap and water. If you wear contacts, it is best to use gloves while handling peppers.